The present invention relates to monitoring an information transmission line and more particularly to a method and system for managing a protective distribution system.
The protection of sensitive data has traditionally been focused on data encryption and physical security carriers (conduits) that house IT infrastructure cabling. An example of an encryption device is a TACLANE (short for “Tactical FASTLANE” or Tactical Local Area Network Encryption). A TACLANE is a network encryption device developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) to provide network communications security on Internet Protocol (IP) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks for the individual user or for enclaves of users at the same security level. An example of a physical security carrier is a Protective Distribution System (PDS). A PDS is a wireline or fiber-optics telecommunication system that includes terminals and adequate acoustical, electrical, electromagnetic, and physical safeguards to permit its use for the unencrypted transmission of classified information. PDS systems are not managed via software, thereby leaving the intrusion detection process and information tracking up to paper logs and human inspections once every 24 hours. When an intrusion is detected it is completely unknown what type of information was taken during the 24 hours between inspections. The lack of software management and the protection of sensitive data infrastructures have been and continue to be vulnerabilities.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the afore-described challenges in protective distribution systems and in infrastructure protection and management.